For decades, Canada has been one of the growing forces in global energy production. Try to quantify that position in any meaningful way, however, and the United States government will likely be the one providing the figures. “Right now the U.S. EIA [Energy Information Agency] is doing a lot of our work for us, not all of it, but certainly a big chunk,” laments Michal Moore, an energy economics professor at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy and author of a recent proposal to create a pan-Canadian Energy Information Organization (CEIO). “A nationally recognized authority on the Canadian energy sector is long overdue,” Moore wrote in the introduction to the proposal published in early April.

Canada’s constitution makes natural resources a federal responsibility, but the provinces maintain dominion over energy resources. The resulting overlap has spread responsibility for tracking growth patterns in the production of Canada’s widespread energy resources — from crude oil and natural gas to hydroelectricity and wind power — across as many as 100 public and private organizations. Each employs “variable techniques, standards, definitions, concepts and time frames where the quality can vary significantly,” reads an excerpt from Moore’s report. “In the end, we lack a single official set of Canada-centric energy data resources that can be the basis for uniform and potentially collaborative energy policies.”

The idea of a national energy plan has been an ongoing public policy discussion for years and, last July, punctuated the meeting of energy ministers from across Canada in Kananaskis, Alta., co-chaired by federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver. Centralizing industry analysis would surely be a key — and more palatable — part of that plan, but it would likely be just the first of many steps.

“This is all just about information and having a one-stop shop for clear, unbiased and I have to stress independent energy analysis for the whole country,” Moore says.

The importance of establishing a CEIO as Canada’s global energy clout grows should not be understated.

“The risk of not having a fuller debate that is fostered by good data is we may make poor policy decisions, poor investments which could translate directly to lower quality of life in the material, social and environmental senses,” says Joseph Doucet, a professor at the University of Alberta’s centre for applied business research in energy and the environment, and interim dean of the Alberta School of Business. “So the stakes are high.”

Industry players already have all the information they need to make responsible investment decisions, asserts Travis Davies, a spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). “But you need the expertise to know where to go,” he says. “As we move forward and as the public gets more engaged on issues of energy production — and I’m not talking about oil and gas, I’m talking hydro and wind and solar — obviously that is not something one set of industry organizations can handle.”

Davies says the CEIO would need to have “total transparency” along with expertise, a budget and credibility. Generally speaking, those features should not be difficult to achieve, except that they require direct governmental oversight and financial support.

Moore’s proposal calls for Ottawa to cover half of a $5-million annual bill for a 35-person agency and offers a formula to determine how much each province would kick in for the other half based on the relative size of their industries. Public funding would help provide legitimacy to the CEIO that support from industry participants themselves would not, though commitments of taxpayer cash do not appear to be immediately forthcoming.

“We look forward to reviewing their proposal,” minister Oliver said in a statement released more than a week after the proposal was published, noting his department continues to “work collaboratively with our provincial counterparts to strengthen Canada’s energy sector,” but forgoing any comment on whether he would support creating a new analytical government agency.

Alberta’s own energy ministry, which originally requested the proposal be prepared, also remains uncommitted. “We aren’t really at the point where we are agreeing or disagreeing with it,” says Alberta Energy spokesperson Karen Karbashewski. “We just asked for an independent analysis of what a national organization could look like.”

Now that they know, it’s up to Canada’s elected energy officials to decide at their upcoming September meeting in Charlottetown whether they like what they see enough to put more resources into resource analysis.

“To get to the next step, there has to be recognition on the part of all players that we are better and stronger when we are presenting a unified and collaborative picture of how we use resources in Canada,” Moore says. “I think it is time. The argument has some resonance now [and] my guess is there will be a fair amount of frustration coming if we don’t start to unite behind something like this.”